


Pianist

by Death_theKid



Series: Pianist [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Artist Eren Yeager, Awkwardness, Coffee Date (kind of), College Student Eren Yeager, College Student Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Cute Eren Yeager, Deaf Eren Yeager, M/M, Misunderstandings, No Smut, Pianist Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Rated for Levi's Language (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 15:12:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14311449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Death_theKid/pseuds/Death_theKid
Summary: Levi is a struggling second year pianist, just trying to get through university without killing any of the annoying little shits who attend with him.Eren is a determined deaf first year, who refuses to use an interpreter that would make him different than everyone else.The two meet.Eren may or may not be having an off day with his lip reading.Levi may or may not say something hard to make out.(NOTE: It is 4:33 in the morning, and I've spent the past hour and a half researching and looking for suitable piano songs for this. I know next to nothing about playing piano (Although I passed 9th and 10th grade music))





	Pianist

**Author's Note:**

> No hate to people who are deaf, one of my best friends can't hear :3 I just laughed a little too hard at this in my sleep depressed state when I thought of it. I don't know much about pianos... or deaf culture. I really shouldn't be writing this. XD

As far back as Levi can remember, he'd never liked people. He could tolerate some at most, but the greater percentage annoyed the hell out of him. People were awful, plain and simple. He never understood why someone would drop a wrapper right beside the trash can. Why someone would park in a handicap parking space without needing it, because it was closer to the entrance. How someone could bully another person for something said person couldn't change about themselves. Humanity was a disgrace. 

There were some good in the world though. His mother for one, the woman had been a superhero in his eyes. She was so kind to everyone, and always stood beside Levi no matter what stupid stunt he'd pulled. Another was his good friends. Erwin Smith was literally the embodiment of Captain America. The asshole oozed charm and kindness. Of course, Hanji jumped off and on that list. They were fucking nuts, but they were always there for him and stood up for what was right, even if they stood alone. Levi had managed to snag a group of other pretty great people for friends as well, Mike, Petra, Oluo, Eld and Gunther. And a few others, like his music teacher who pushed him to where he was today. 

Today, Levi was a second-year university student in the music department. He'd been playing piano since a young age, he and his mother used to sit together at the old grand piano in the livingroom and play songs together. It wasn't perfect, the piano had a few keys that never worked, and his mother had limited knowledge about the instrument. Levi had slowly started learning to play more advanced pieces by himself. His mother used to gush about his playing, her self-taught piano prodigy son. Levi used to think that she was just doing what moms did, gush about their children- even if the child was terrible. It wasn't until high school when the teacher had caught him on the piano at lunch. 

It was shocking, honesty, hearing such praise from someone who wasn't his mother. The teacher had just kept pushing Levi. The boy had been granted permission to use the expensive piano in the practice room whenever it wasn't in use, the teacher would print out challenging pieces and give Levi a time limit to learn it, and often randomly ask a piano related question. It was annoying, but fuck, it had helped him a lot. 

That afternoon Levi sat in the auditorium alone, venting his frustrations out on the piano keys. His hate for humans burned out his fingers as he played Prokofiev Sonata 6 Mov. 1. A first-year idiot had decided that the best time to play the grand piano, was while they were eating Cheetos. Who the fuck eats Cheetos and plays a _public_ piano. He'd just wanted to come and play a little, but no. He got to spend the next hour wiping cheese dust off each piano key. Not just dust though, the person had obviously been licking their fingers as they went (which is disgusting in itself, it's a _public_ piano) so there were cheese paste fingerprints, which made for a whole disinfecting treatment of the piano, because that's just fucking disgusting. After his venting session, Levi played a few slower pieces to let the pent-up anger dissipate. 

Music had been one of the only things that helped him vent. He'd always been a quiet blank child. The only outlet he'd had was the old piano in the livingroom. Especially when his mother passed away. He'd just sit on the piano bench for hours on end and play the songs they'd played together when he was young by himself. He'd play her favourite songs that he'd learned to play for her. It expressed his emotions better than his mouth could, frankly, his mouth tended to fuck things up. 

When Levi had finished playing for the evening, he lowered the fallboard over the keys and groaned in frustration at the smudge of bright orange on it. With a swipe of his hand, the disinfectant wet-wipe wiped away the mess. Truly despicable. Levi scoffed as he swiftly turned on his heels and walked towards the door. He turned the lights off and shut the door behind him. Leaving the room exactly, except cleaner, as he found it. 

It was early evening now, just starting to go dark. The sun turned the sky into beautiful shades of orange, pink and yellow in the horizon as Levi left the music department at the university. Everything was its own separate building at this specific university. There was the music department, where Levi was studying. The drama department, that was basically a theatre and a bunch of costume closets. And the art department, possibly the largest. The art department had different rooms for each element of art (drawing, sketching with charcoal, painting, sculpting with unusual items, modelling with clay, etc). Then, of course there were the dorms. Two sets, male and female. Levi, had been fortunate enough to get an apartment a few blocks down from the Arts University. 

The man started his quiet walk. There weren't usually too many people walking around at this hour. It was early evening, yes, but people around here get off earlier and never really want to hang out on the streets. Unless they were a college student, as he was. There was also that popular café. It was talked about amongst the students at the university. The expresso was said to be enough to keep one up for twenty-four hours straight. Levi had found their Earl Grey tea to be the least shitty he'd found. It was tolerable. 

Speaking of tea, he could really use it at this point. He was still disturbed over the cheese powder, like seriously? Who does that? The raven stepped off the sidewalk, to cross the street. The café was open, as always, and the short line was moving fast. Levi stepped into place, into the line behind an average height guy. He had fluffy brown hair. The man stepped up to order his drink, and Levi couldn't help but over hear. 

"Um, can I get an iced coffee?" Being a music student, Levi could hear the beauty in sounds. And this voice was angelic. There was a slight unusually slur, and his pitch was slightly weird, but Levi loved his voice anyway. Levi watched the man accept his drink and mutter a quick 'thank you' to the woman behind the counter. The man moved swiftly past the line, and out the door. Levi stepped up to order, but a rectangular piece of plastic caught his attention first. A debit card. 

"Oh, the man before you must've left his card," the woman stated boredly. 

"I'll go take it to him." Levi said quickly, grabbing the card off the counter and moving towards the door with a quick pace. This was his chance to talk to the man. Once out the door, the raven looked both ways, until noticing the brunet walking down the left, towards the university. Levi hurried to catch up to him. 

"Mister," he called, no response. 

"Hey, sir!" Nothing again. Puzzled, Levi quickened his pace to catch up to the man and although it felt weird, and he'd hate for some stranger to do this to him, Levi tapped the man's shoulder. 

The man jumped slightly, turning to look at Levi. He tilted his head to the side. 

"Can I help you?" The man asked. 

"You, uh," the man's eyes trailed down to his lips, "you left your debit card on the counter." The man processed his words for a second, before a shocked expression filled his face. His eyes travelled even lower to his outstretched hand, holding out the plastic to him. 

"Oh," the man frowned with a gaping expression. "Thank you very much!" The brunet took the card from the raven, and Levi smiled slightly. _The face matched the voice_ , Levi thought. And his eyes were just entrancing. "I never would've found that," the brunet laughed quietly. 

"Yea," Levi responded. He snapped his mouth shut quickly. _Yea? Seriously?_ The man didn't seem to notice Levi's awkward response. 

"How can I replay you?" The brunet asked with a puppy pout. Levi shook his head. 

"I don't need repayment," Levi felt a little uncomfortable as the other watched his lips, before looking up and frowning. 

"You were behind me in the café, yes? You have no drink. I'll buy you your drink," the boy nodded to himself. Levi watched as the brunet walked past him, then paused to look back at him. "Are you coming?" How could he say no to that? Levi nodded once, before he hurried to catch the man once again. They walked into the café together, and stood in line together. When it was their turn, the brunet turned to Levi to order. 

"Uh, I'll have an Earl Grey, black." Levi told her. 

"Okay, $2.75." The cashier called quietly. The brunet swiped his card quickly, then beamed at Levi. When Levi's drink finally came, they stared at each other for a second. 

"Do you..." Again, with the intense lip staring, "Do you want to sit with me?" Levi didn't know why he was inviting a stranger to sit with him. He didn't know why he was so far out of his comfort zone right now and kind of... _enjoying it_? He didn't know why he felt so stupidly happy when the brunet nodded with a small smile. 

Together they moved towards a little table toward the back. It was right by the window, so they could look out onto the street and watch the sunset still. 

"It's very pretty," the boy tilted his head to look out the window, then looked back at Levi, waiting for a response. 

"Yea," Again with the fucking 'yea'? The brunet smiled lightly. 

"I'm Eren," he said. 

"Levi," They then shook hands. Once again outside of Levi's comfort zone. "So, you live around here?" Levi asked. _God damn, I sound like a fucking stalker_ , he scolded himself. To his surprise, Eren nodded. 

"Mm, I live in the dorms at the Arts university." He explained. 

"I go to that university as well," Levi smiled as he took a sip of his tea, "what are you studying?" 

"I'm in the painting and modelling classes," the brunet smiled, "what about you?" 

"I'm a pianist," Levi shrugged. The brunet stared at him for a second. Then two seconds. His eyes focused on Levi's lips, and his mouth forming an 'o' shape. He narrowed his eyes before looking up at Levi. 

"You... you're a penis?" Levi almost choked on his tea. It almost sprayed out of his nose. What the fuck? He could feel his face heat up slightly. 

"No, pianist." He repeated. Eren watched his lips with intensity, before looking up and scrunching his nose up in defeat. 

"I just saw penis again." Then it clicked. I _saw_ penis again. Eren was lip reading. It all made sense now; the slur and pitch of his voice, the intense stare on his lips, not hearing Levi call out to him on the street, the misunderstanding of words- Eren was deaf, or at least hard of hearing. 

"No, ah," the raven looked around for a napkin or something he could write on. Eren watched him curiously. Levi turned to the window and wrote the word 'pianist' out in the condensation. Eren watched him write, then he leaned around to read the word. 

"Oh," he sat back in his chair, " _oh_. I'm sorry!" It was Eren's turn to go tomato red. 

"It's fine, really," Levi said slowly. It was actually quite funny, and he hoped they could laugh about this down the line- if there even was a down the line. 

"So, you're over in the music department?" Eren asked, he face slowly returning to regular colour. 

"I am, they have a beautiful grand piano," Levi explained. He slowed his voice down, so they wouldn't have another awkward misunderstanding. 

"I love pianos," Eren said happily. "They make beautiful sounds," Levi watched Eren for a second. How? 

"I thought you were..." Levi didn't know how to finish that sentence without being insulting. 

"Deaf?" Eren supplied, "I am." 

"But..." _I should really stop talking now_ , Levi growled internally at himself. 

"I didn't lose my hearing until I turned six, my cousin used to play piano," Eren started, "I listen with vibrations now." Levi's mouth formed an 'o' shape, and Eren laughed lightly. 

"You should play for me some time," Eren suggested hopefully. 

"Only if you show me some of your art," the raven agreed. Eren nodded at the proposal. They continued talking, Eren was actually pretty good company. 

"Do you know ASL?" Levi asked curiously. He didn't know ASL, he was just curious. Sign Language had always intrigued him, and he'd never actually spoken with someone who couldn't hear, so no one he knew really knew the language. To his question, Eren started doing a couple had gestures really quickly. (You cute. You understand?) Levi shook his head, eyes widening. "I'll take that as a yes." Eren laughed. 

"Yes, I do." Eren replied cheekily, "I assume you don't? You didn't comment on what I said." 

"What did you say?" Levi asked as he narrowed his eyes. Eren simply shrugged. Levi muttered a 'little shit' under his breath before looking out the window. It was totally dark now. 

"I should get going," Levi said standing. 

"Wait, can, can we um exchange numbers?" Eren stood up after him, holding out his cell phone. Levi nodded and quickly added his contact info to Eren's phone. 

"Text me so I have your number?" Levi asked. 

"Okay, I should warn you that I probably won't be calling you." Levi's face scrunched up as he wondered why Eren wouldn't call, until he remembered he couldn't hear. 

"Is that how you get all the ladies?" Levi teased. 

"Nah, it's how I get the cute boys though," Eren eyed him for a second before smiling. Levi laughed lightly. Eren was smooth AF, like shit. They went their separate ways once exiting the café. When Levi got home he showered and changed into pyjamas. He frowned when his phone lit up, no one really messages him. He's not the nicest person to talk to. 

**Eren 8:46p.m.**

**I had a lot of fun, we should do it again sometime :]**

Levi smiled as he typed out a reply. It certainly had been fun. Fun enough to almost forget about the cheese powder. _Almost._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> It would be great if you'd Kudos and Comment! 
> 
> Also, continuation? No? What do you readers think?


End file.
